"a 



'*Teach your boys that which they should 
practice when they become men." 



The Tree Planters 

of 

America 

A POTENT FACTOR FOR THE 

Reforestation of the United States 

AND EXTENSION OF PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 
BY THE 

American Farmer Boys 

(fifth edition, amplified) 

f 




ISSUED BY 



The National Business League 
of America 



CHICAGO, U. S. A. 
19 11 



3TR0MBERQ, ALLEN A CO., CHICAOO. 



Teach your boys that which they should 
practice when they become men." 



he Tree Planters 

of 

America 



A POTENT FACTOR FOR THE 

Reforestation of the United States 

AND EXTENSION OF PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 
BY THE 

American Farmer Boys 

(fifth edition, amplified) 



I 




ISSUED BY 



The National Business League 
of America 



CHICAGO, U. S. A. 
19 11 



" When boys and trees are good comrades, nothing 
is to be feared for either of them." 

— News-Tribune, Detroit, Mich. 

"The Tree Planters of America — A glorious idea, 
and I believe it is so good and grand that it will be 
carried out by its own virtues. It is one of the finest 
things ever proposed to the American people." 
— James T. Du Bois 

(American Consul-General at Singapore.) 

"With distinct pleasure andfull appreciation, I have 
read your plan for the organization of the ' The Tree 
Planters of America.' It is the best suggestion I have 
seen on the matter considered. The conception seems 
really inspired. 

" To organize the American boys in such thorough 
and systematic way, and under such splendid leadership 
in good work, is an endeavor that cannot be too highly 
commended. 

"Aside from the great benefits that will certainly 
come through such wise plans for reforestation, the 
principles of patriotic devotion incidentally inculcated 
will thrill the nation, and from border to border will 
pulse as one great throbbing heart, loyalty and love for 
the future of the whole country." 

— William J. Northen, Atlanta 

(Formerly Governor of Georgia.) 
^y uauethx 



FOREWORD 



THE agriculture, industries and commerce of the 
United States, and disastrous forest fires, have con- 
sumed the timber of 300,000,000 acres out of the 
original forests of 850,000,000 acres. Most of this tim- 
ber has been cut and marketed, or destroyed, during 
recent years, and the remainder is rapidly vanishing in 
the ever-increasing demands of modern activities. As 
a nation we are fast approaching a timber famine, and, 
unless immediate, thorough and persistent action be 
taken for country-wide replenishment, our successors 
will have just and ample reason for criticism and con- 
demnation. 

Private forestry has accomplished something. The 
few notable instances only indicate what might be 
achieved by a general movement. A report from the 
Department of Agriculture, approved by Secretary 
Wilson, May 29, 1909, gives the total area of planted 
forest land as not exceeding 965,000 acres. Yet the total 
area of land which would yield its greatest returns from 
planted forest is more than 56,000,000 acres. Surely 
here is a broad and promising field for the timely 
proposition — "The Tree Planters of America/' 

The suggestion is an American idea, presented by 
the National Business League of America for the prac- 
tical reforestation of the United States, and for the phys- 
ical, moral and spiritual up-lifting and usefulness of the 
American Boy of the twentieth century and the countless 

3 



generations to follow him. Systematic planting, 
culture, and conservation of trees; prompt utilization 
of fallen timber for fuel or the industries; a permanent 
and profitable wood lot for every farm; co-operation of 
Art with Nature in the transformation of the landscape 
from the unsightly to the beautiful. These should be 
cardinal duties of the youthful Tree Planters. 

The farmer should raise his crop of trees as he does 
other products of the farm. It will, however, be a 
crop in perpetuity, from father to son through all 
future years. With the Tree Planters active the cost 
of reforestation will be reduced to a minimum; the 
burden of expense resting lightly on each unit of the 
movement, ie., on the nation, state, county, township 
and individual. 

There is nothing in the plan to inspire an excessive 
militant spirit or to develop habits of destructiveness. It 
does not, in any sense, emphasize the dubious "Cowboy 
and Indian" idea, so manifestly, and sometimes fatally, 
operative among the boys in the trail of a Wild West 
show, or under the baleful influence of the degenerate 
dime novel. The life of the tree planter, the farmer and 
the homebuilder is distinctly along lines of practical 
achievement, beneficence and universal peace. 

The cordial commendations by leaders of thought and 
action in many lines of endeavor, from every section of 
the country, some of which are herein submitted, indicate 
a deep and widespread interest in scientific rc-forestation 
by the farmer boys and youth of the Nation. Hence 
it is earnestly hoped that the United States Govern- 
ment, the States, and all the various organizations of the 
country with aims for the general welfare, now and here- 
after, will heartily co-operate to carry the "Tree Plant- 
ers of America" to a conclusion of lasting results. 



ORIGIN OF THE PROPOSITION 

The Tree Planters of America 



NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION 



Washington, June 27, 1908. 
Mr. Austin A. Burnham, Chicago, 111. 

Dear Mr. Burnham: You will recall that the Declaration of 
the Governors at the White House Conference recommended that 
each State appoint "a commission on the conservation of natural 
resources to co-operate with each other and with any similar com- 
mission of the federal government." Acting on this suggestion, 
President Roosevelt, on June 8, appointed a National Conservation 
Commission. The Executive Committee of the Commission met in 
Chicago, June 19, arranged a plan of work, and decided also to 
issue occasional bulletins. I have much pleasure in enclosing a copy 
of the first of these, and shall be very glad to send you later issues 
if you desire. 

Since you took part in the Conference, and in view of the 
peculiar interest of the National Business League of America in the 
Conservation of Natural Resources, it occurs to me that you may 
be willing to assist the National Commission with suggestions, either 
on your own behalf or on that of your organization, concerning lines 
of inquiry, the nature of the report, or other matter; and I assure 
you that any expression from you will be welcome. The Commis- 
sion would especially appreciate your co-operation if you would con- 
sent to give it detailed and specific information in your own field. 
Would it be possible for you to do so? 

Sincerely yours, Gifford Pinchot, 

Chairman. 

(Responsive to the above request, the National Business League 
of America, on February 12, 1909, suggested the plan of organizing 
the Tree Planters of America, which follows) : 

5 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



Reforestation. 

By the farmer boys and youth of the United States through a 
great national organization to be known as 

The Tree Planters of America. 

It must be evident to every reflective mind that in order to make 
reforestation permanent and far-reaching, the idea of 'its value and 
absolute necessity must be impressed upon the farmer boys of the 
country, for the forests of the future will be in their hands. For 
all time the boys of today will be the men of tomorrow, and exactly 
in proportion as the boys of America are trained in the varied fields 
of human endeavor, so will be the future of America. 

Reared to the practice of tree-planting, conservation of the tim- 
ber supply, and schooled in the science of forestry, the habit will be- 
come fixed for life, and the custom of tree-planting will have been 
extended to all parts of the United States, and all the farmers will 
be practical foresters. 

All farmer boys and youth of the country should be eligible to 
membership in the Tree-Planters. 

There should be systematic tree planting in profitless pastures, 
nooks, ravines ; on hillsides and house lawns ; on useless or worn-out 
spots or partly denuded forest acres on the farm, and in every 
place where the soil is not yielding a reasonable contribution to the 
general welfare. 

From time to time, through publications and by personal visits 
of experts from the United States forest service, the "Tree-Plant- 
ers" should be instructed in scientific forestry in all its branches. 

The national government, or the state, or both, should confer 
medals, badges or other tokens of recognition for meritorious work. 
This will strengthen the ambition of the boys and increase their in- 
terest and activity in the task of tree planting. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



Plan of Organization. 

The plan suggested is to organize the "Tree-Planters of Amer- 
ica" largely through the agency or co-operation of farmers' granges, 
clubs, schools, institutes, educational and co-operative unions, state 
and local agricultural associations. 

The organization should be composed of groups ; each state 
group to be known under the state name, as the "Ohio Group," with 
the governor of the state as president, the state forester, or such 
other state officials as the governor may select, as aids. Then county 
groups, with the county commissioners or other officials at the head ; 
then township groups, under control of the trustees or other offi- 
cials; all to be under the direction of the United States forester, 
or the chairman of the National Conservation Commission. 

The heads of the township groups should report to the heads of 
the county groups ; the heads of the county groups should report to 
the heads of the state groups, and the heads of the state groups 
should report to the United States forester or the chairman of the 
National Conservation Commission, Thus will be completed a per- 
fect chain of organization linking the coming American citizens into 
one mighty, irresistible force for permanent reforestation, reclama- 
tion of our water courses and water powers, and advancement of 
our industries. 

It is suggested that the president of the United States set the 
machinery for organization in motion by issuing a proclamation of 
recommendation to the governors, who are to be the presidents of 
the state groups; the governors to issue proclamations recommend- 
ing organization of the county and township groups as above 
indicated. 

Thus has been suggested that which it is hoped may prove to be 
a pleasant and profitable pastime for "Young America," along the 
lines of that sterling injunction, "Teach your boys that which they 
should practice when they become men." 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



It is believed that, rightly exploited and managed, the movement 
would become of vast scope and early results. Boys are easy to 
receive and hold impressions, and once their ambitions are quick- 
ened, are enthusiastic, cordially responsive and persistent ; besides 
behind them would be the right-minded, progressive father who 
would encourage the sons in the great work of reforestation. 

The system once established will become a part of the life of the 
farmer. He may learn of the timbers that will best thrive in his par- 
ticular section of the country and of those kinds most needed by 
the various industries. 

Not only on the farm but in the suburbs of our large towns 
and cities should tree planting, for use and for ornament, be prac- 
ticed by the boys and young men of America. These foresters of 
the future should also learn the best methods of trimming out 
the second growth of deforested lands wherever the soil is not 
needed or unfit for tillage, so that the most promising saplings may 
grow unhampered ; furthermore become familiar with the diseases 
and parasites of trees and the effective means for their extinction. 

Through tree-planting and tree culture, in boyhood, the farmer 
easily acquires the habit of making the forest an invaluable factor 
of his farm ; restoring that which, often with wasteful methods and 
with little thought of future needs, has been lavishly consumed. 

The proposition should appeal to all interests, for it is essen- 
tially constructive and conservative, with no element of friction in it. 

Remarks of Austin A. Burnham, General Secretary of the 
National Business League of America, at the National 
Conservation Congress at St. Paul, Minnesota, Septem- 
ber 8, 1910. 

Mr. President and Members of the National Conservation Congress : 
I deeply appreciate the privilege, and am not insensible of the 
honor, of briefly addressing this great Congress of representative 
men in every field of human endeavor, who are met to plan for the 
conservation of the natural resources of the nation. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



First, I wish to emphasize the fact that the patriotic men who 
are planning conservation today are mostly not the men who will 
execute. The men who are to conserve our lands, waters and min- 
erals, and perpetuate our forests, are now running around in knick- 
erbockers, or being rocked in the cradles of the nation. They and 
their children and their children's children, down along the line of 
the centuries, will carry out the vital precepts and principles of this 
great conservation movement — this timely warning cry against care- 
less national extravagance — this imperative codicil to the Declara- 
tion of Independence. 

There are some resources we cannot restore, but may conserve 
or substitute. As one door closes another opens. Coal, iron, cop- 
per and other products of the mine, when once consumed cannot be 
reproduced, but for all time the tree may be perpetuated. The 
friendly, faithful, useful tree that conserves the raindrop with its 
treasures of light, heat, power and life-giving properties for vegeta- 
tion and fills the world with inspiring beauty. 

The restoration and preservation of our forests, then, and an 
adequate policy of accomplishment, becomes of the weightiest impor- 
tance. In this connection I beg to suggest the American Farmer 
Boy. It is proposed to organize the farmer boys and young men 
of this country into a great national body to be known as the "Tree 
Planters of America." The plan involves instruction and actual 
practice in tree-planting and tree-culture, with suitable prizes for 
excellence and results. It aims to permanently check the wasteful- 
ness of go-as-you-please forestry now evident from every car win- 
dow in this country. 

In brief, without entering into details, the suggestion seeks to 
organize all farmer boys from twelve to twenty years of age as 
Tree Planters, in every commonwealth, county and township of the 
United States ; with the co-operation of the forestry department at 
Washington, governors of states, and the proper official heads of 
town and county governments. 



10 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 

The plan in general unifies the individual, the state and the 
nation, into one vast organized body for the practical reforestation 
of the country. The system once made operative will become an 
inseparable part of the life of the farmer of the future. It is kin- 
dred to the splendid educational and philanthropic w^ork of Mr. Ber- 
nard N. Baker, the ideal and actual president of this Congress, and 
I hope it may merit your approval as one practical means to the 
end we all are aiming at. 

The time for talking has gone by. The time for action has 
come. Therefore let us begin at the foundation and organize the 
coming men who are to do the actual work of reforestation. The 
mind of the American boy is plastic. The impressions he receives 
remain to the end. Teach him then to practice those things that 
make for permanent universal betterment, for with his brain and 
brawn he determines the destiny of this great American Republic. 

Preamble and Resolution Unanimously Adopted by the Board 
OF Directors and Standing Committees of the National 
Business League of America, September 26, 1910. Copy 
Forwarded to the President of the United States. 

Whereas, The rapid development of the agriculture, the various 
industries and the commerce of the United States have largely ex- 
hausted the forests of the country and thereby destroyed the nat- 
ural currents of the water courses, reduced the water powers to a 
minimum of usefulness, defaced the landscapes, and resulted in dis- 
astrous floods and serious erosion or wastage of the soil ; and 

Whereas, It is evident that restoration and perpetuation of the 
forests, so far as practicable, have become imperative for the gen- 
eral welfare of the nation; and 

Whereas, The National Business League of America has sug- 
gested that the farmer boys and youth of the United States be 
organized for the purpose of reforestation of the farms, tree cul- 
ture and conservation of timber supplies, under the title and name — 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 11 

"The Tree Planters of America" — to co-operate with the Forest 
Service of the Department of Agricuhure of the Federal Govern- 
ment, state, county and municipal governments, farmers' granges, 
clubs, schools, institutes, educational and agricultural associations, 
along the following lines, viz. : 

First — The Tree Planters of America to be composed of 
groups; each state group to be known under the state name, as the 
"Ohio Group of the Tree Planters of America," with the Governor 
of the State as President, and such other state official or officials as 
His Excellency may elect as aids; also county and township groups 
with the proper officials in charge. 

Second — The members of the Tree Planters of America to be 
instructed in scientific forestry, through publications and by per- 
sonal visits of experts from the United States Forest Service. Peri- 
odical reports of progress from the various groups to be made 
through state organizations to the Forest Service, and annual distri- 
bution of medals or other prizes for excellence in results, by the 
Government, the State and auxiliary organizations ; therefore be it 

Resolved, That the President of the United States of America, 
be, and he hereby is, respectfully requested by the Board of Directors 
and Standing Committees of the National Business League of Amer- 
ica, to issue a proclamation to the Governors of the different States 
of the Union, recommending co-operation along the lines indicated ; 
and that the President further recommend to the Congress of the 
United States such legislation as, in his opinion, may be necessary to 
successfully carry out the plan as outlined by the National Busi- 
ness League of America. 



12 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 



From George H. Maxwell, Executive Chairman and General Coun- 
sel, American Homecroft Society, Chicago. 

Concerning the splendid article in the Chicago Evening Post, 
about your plan for "Banding the Boys of the Country to Rear 
Forests," it does seem to me that you have suggested something here 
which is an idea holding real, splendid possibilities of inspiration to 
thousands of young men in every part of the United States, from a 
purely patriotic and philanthropic point of view, if you can get those 
who are interested in the propagation of forestry ideas to take up 
your thought and push it forward, I most sincerely hope that they 
will do so. 

This country will be what the young men who are now growing 
to manhood will make it. Every boy who is inoculated with the 
right ambition and inspirations in reference to the future of the 
country during the next few years will do a work that will leave an 
enduring mark on the sands of time through all future years. There 
are very few who realize that "As a man thinketh, so is he," and "as 
the people of a nation think, so will the nation be," and if you can 
only get people interested in a thing, they will carry it out. If the 
boys of this country could be interested in forestry as much as they 
are now interested in baseball, we would soon have an end of all 
our forestry troubles. 

M. P. Lilienthal, Cashier The Anglo-California Trust Company, San 

Francisco. 
I am heartily in accord with the plan to organize an army of 
boys for the reforestation of our waste lands, and trust that the 
League will meet with success. 

George W. Sheldon, G. W. Sheldon & Company, Chicago. 

The plan as outlined can no doubt be carried out if it can get 
a start, and when started, I feel sure that it would arouse wonderful 
enthusiasm among the farmer boys of America. 

George Frederic Stone, Secretary, Board of Trade of the City of 

Chicago. 
Concerning the very interesting, practical and patriotic article 
entitled "Banding the Boys of the Country to Rear Forests," I hail 
not only with approval, but with delight, the movement which is 
making such progress in the direction of the conservation of our 
natural resources, and the determination to stop the waste of our 
splendid natural wealth which has been going on for generations. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 13 



PUBLIC OPINION 

Bernard N. Baker, Chairman Executive Committee Moral Educa- 
tion Board, Baltimore ; formerly President of the National 
Conservation Congress. 

It is a splendid idea. I congratulate you on the work you are 
undertaking, wish you success, and assure you that I will assist all 
I can. 

C. A. Green of R. G. Dun & Co., New York. 

I consider your idea the best I have ever seen for accomplish- 
ing good results along this line. If the boys and young men can 
be interested in such a movement success is absolutely assured in my 
judgment. I sincerely trust that sufficient interest can be aroused to 
carry the plan through. 

C. H. Plummer, President Merchants' and Manufacturers' Asso- 
ciation, Los Angeles, California. 

Your plan, as outlined in the Chicago Evening Post of August 
25th, to organize the boys of the farms of the United States as a 
body of tree planters and foresters, appeals to me as one of the 
truly great ideas which has been brought to my attention in many 
years. I believe that this scheme, thoroughly elaborated, will prove 
a solution of a problem, which today is one of paramount importance 
to the American nation. I am convinced that every man. whoever 
or whatever he may be, whether his position be exalted or lowly, 
who is possessed of a sense of patriotism will bid you, as I do, God 
speed in your labor of love. Be assured of any co-operation in my 
power. 

Honorable Rollin S. WoodrufiF, formerly Governor of Connecticut, 

New Haven. 

The idea appeals to me and I believe that you have started a 
very wise and productive plan, and I sincerely hope that the idea 
may be carried to its fullest completion. I take great pleasure in 
commending the whole proposition. 

William L. Brown, President Chicago Ship Building Company, 

Chicago. 

The movement is unquestionably a practical and patriotic one, 
and, as outlined, will appeal favorably to every one having at heart 
the tree growth of our country; and the organization, as proposed, 
will undoubtedly do much toward the better protection of our 
forests. 



14 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

Elliott Durand, The Northern Assurance Company, Chicago. 

I have carefully read, from beginning to end, the pamphlet, 
"The Tree Planters of America," and do not hesitate to say that 
nothing has come to me which so appeals to me as this happy solu- 
tion of continuing our forests. 

Reared in the country, and loving trees as I do animals, I 
believe the possibilities are unlimited. There are so many tracts on 
nearly every farm, east and west, where waste places may be made 
glad, that the early fruition of our hopes may be realized, with 
almost no expense. I heartily endorse the plan. 

Honorable J. Frank Hanly, formerly Governor of Indiana, Indian- 
apolis. 

The plan seems practical and worthy of commendation. 

Walter Fitch, of Walter Fitch & Company, formerly President 
Board of Trade, Chicago. 

I think the idea a most excellent one, and trust it will be pushed 
aggressively. 

Francis Beidler, Lumber Interests, Chicago. 
All this tends in the direction of accomplishing a very laudable 
and worthy object, which the men of this generation will be sin- 
cerely thanked for by the thinking men of the generations to come, 
if they succeed in accomplishing something at least in the direction 
of this purpose. 

Professor Emory R. Johnson, University of Pennsylvania, Phila- 
delphia. 

The future supply of forests in the United States must be main- 
tained mainly by forestry upon private lands. National and State 
forestry can only very partially meet the situation. It would seem 
that your plan of organizing the boys of the country as "The Tree 
Planters of America" might awaken an interest in wood lots and 
forests that will do much to insure a future supply of timber in the 
United States. 

Walter C. Gillett, President, Chicago Paper Company, Chicago. 
I feel certain that it is a very important subject, and it looks to 
me as though the situation lay in just about such a scheme as out- 
lined. I fully realize the importance of the devastation of our tim- 
bers and the necessity of replacing them, and would be in harmony 
v/ith any action taken to improve our present condition. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 15 



PUBLIC OPINION 

William H. Parlin, President Parlin & Orendorff Company, Canton, 

Illinois. 
The plan suggested is a good one. I believe that if the young 
people are taught to realize the importance of keeping up our 
forestry it will be a move in the right direction. 

Hon. John Wanamaker, Philadelphia. 
The scheme seems to be practical. 

Robert H. Harvey, President D. B. Fisk & Company, Chicago. 
We heartily endorse the work of the "Tree Planters of 
America." 

M. E. Plain, Trask & Plain, Aurora, 111. 
I am heartily in accord with the movement for reforesting our 
waste lands. 

Ward W . Willits, President The Adams- Westlake Company, 

Chicago. 
The plan of reforesting the country through an organization of 
boys to be known as the "Tree Planters of America," appeals to me 
as being practical and feasible, and if properly organized will show 
results highly beneficial to the country. 

Honorable Clark E. Carr, formerly United States Minister Pleni- 
potentiary to Denmark, Galesburg, 111. 

The suggestion of a plan to reforest the country through "The 
Tree Planters of America" I most heartily approve. 

I lived for four years, from 1889 to 1893, with my family, at 
Copenhagen. I learned there that the forests had been replanted 
and that there was maintained a splendid system to keep them up. 
Among other requirements, every one who cut down a tree was 
obliged to replace it with a good thrifty tree, properly set out, the 
same season. This requirement was enforced as to one's own land. 
If it was neglected the State Forester would plant the tree, for which 
he who cut its predecessor down would be required to pay, with 
costs of proceedings. This regulation applied to the whole King- 
dom of Denmark. 

Honorable Augustus E. Willson, Governor of Kentucky, Frankfort. 

It seems to me that it is a very admirable plan, and if we can 
get our boys interested they will make a splendid army of tree 
planters. 



16 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 

PUBLIC OPINION 

Honorable Elihii Root, United States Senator from New York. 

In re "The Tree Planters of America," I think it would be 
a very useful thing to impress upon the minds of American boys 
generally the idea that it is a good thing to plant trees. It seems to 
be getting hold at the right end of the process of public education 
on that subject. I should think that a great many boys might be 
led to get their fathers to permit them to transplant small seedlings 
into lands that are now waste and unproductive, or to let them 
plant nuts in such land. The business is so fascinating that if you 
get a boy once interested in the growth of a single tree of his own 
raising he will be a tree planter all the rest of his life. If you 
get boys enough into this attitude we should very soon be changed 
from a tree-destroying to a tree-raising people. 

C. H. Williamson, formerly President The Quincy Chamber of 
Commerce, Quincy, 111. 
The idea is most commendable, and is of a very practicable 
nature. It is a splendid channel for youthful enthusiasm and should 
be of untold benefit to the country. 

George H. Barbour, Vice-President and General Manager The 
Michigan Stove Company, Detroit. 
Concerning the plan of The National Business League of 
America to reforest the country, through an organization of farmer 
boys and youth ; it seems to me this is a very important step, and 
if the plan had been inaugurated years ago, when our forests were 
being devastated, we would now have a new growth of timber in 
many sections where now we have but brush and stumps, etc. It 
is not too late to start, and I hope every one will feel interested to 
encourage and foster this work and that you may secure an organi- 
zation necessary to carry on the work, thus insuring to the country, 
in the future, a fine growth of timber, which will be of inestimable 
benefit to all. You have my hearty approval of your plan and I 
trust it will prove most successful in every way. 

Frederick H. Brennan, Secretary and Treasurer The N. K. Fairbank 
Company, Chicago. 
The plan for the "Tree Planters of America," seems to us very 
well devised to accomplish the purpose in view. If the farmer boys 
of the country can be interested in the subject of reforestation, and 
be induced, from patriotic motives or obvious material advantages 
that will result to themselves, to plant trees upon the rough, waste 
or otherwise non-arable lands, there can be no question of the 
enormous benefit to the country from such a campaign. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 17 



PUBLIC OPINION 

George H. Wilcox, President International Silver Company, 
Meriden, Conn. 

We are certainly interested in any plan that will look to increas- 
ing tlie forests of this country. We are doing what we can in our 
town, in a limited way, to encourage the planting of trees by the 
young men of our section, and we believe if we could get at more 
of them, that a little encouragement would perhaps produce very 
great results all over the country. 

Edward P. Bailey, Manager The National Malleable Castings Com- 
pany, Chicago. 

I am in favor of any efficient plan having for its object the 
planting and cultivation of trees on a large scale. 

A. S. Thomas, Meriden, Conn. 
I commend the "Tree Planters of America." 

Silas H. Burnham, President First National Bank of Lincoln, 
Lincoln, Neb. 

The plan of organizing the farmer boys of America for con- 
servation and reforestation is, in my judgment, feasible and practi- 
cal, and, if taken up by the boys in the true American spirit, will 
bring results that will astonish the nation. It will not only be of 
inestimable benefit to the country, but will awaken and arouse an 
exceedingly valuable idea in the minds of the rising generation. 

Honorable John Barton Payne, Chicago. 

I have read with great interest the pamphlet dealing with the 
subject, "The Tree Planters of America." The plan is admirable 
and should do great good in several directions. It should reforest 
the country and reinvigorate its youth. 

G. H. Nye, President Cayuga County National Bank, Auburn, N. Y. 

The idea of securing the interest of the youth of America in 
an organization with such a name is practical, and a very good one. 
It is assumed that^the selection of trees would be such as to produce 
the best value at maturity. I have for some time advocated the 
planting of valuable trees along the roadside in all country towns, 
and any waste land whatever might well be devoted to such a 
purpose. Anything that makes play for the young boys should be, 
if possible, turned into producing something of practical value, as 
a result, and this idea is a most excellent one. 



18 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

Wilson H. Doe, Cashier The Home National Bank, Elgin, Illinois. 

Relative to the proposed organization of "Tree Planters of 
America," the object to be gained by this organization appeals to 
any right-thinking man. If that can be accomplished, the good 
which will result will be incalculable, and of benefit to the Nation 
for all time to come. 

Honorable Frank O. Lowden, Member of Congress from Illinois, 
Sinnissippi Farm, Oregon, 111. 

I have read, with much interest, your pamphlet entitled the 
"Tree Planters of America." I think this method proposed by you 
is eminently practical, and I wish you all success. It is idle to 
expect to accomplish everything by legislation. The people them- 
selves must do their part if we are to make real progress. 

I wish to suggest, for your consideration, the desirability of 
having the several States exempt from taxation lands that are 
devoted to forestry. It takes so long to raise the first crop of 
timber that the State might well assist by exempting property of 
this kind from taxation while it is growing. 

Honorable Edwin Warfield, formerly Governor of Maryland, 

Baltimore. 

Concerning the "Tree Planters of America," I think your plan 
of organization is a good one. I am a farmer and very much inter- 
ested in reforestation. I have a son who has become interested 
also, and we frequently discuss methods for restoring the forests 
on our plantation. I take great interest in tree culture, and am 
starting a private nursery. On every occasion that presents itself, 
I recommend to neighboring farmers the importance of looking 
after their wood lots, and whenever it is necessary to cut a tree 
for use, to replace it by planting another. Your plan is one that 
will be for the practical and permanent betterment of landowners 
and the people of the country. 

Charles P. Mosher, Mosher, Griswold & Company, Auburn, N. Y. 

I can think of but one answer for any man to make to the 
proposition, and that is, one of commendation. 

Mahlon D. Thatcher, President First National Bank, Pueblo, Colo. 

Concerning the plan to reforest the country through an organi- 
zation of farmer boys and youth, to be known as the "Tree Planters 
of America," I heartily recommend the proposed organization, as I 
think it is a most desirable thing for the whole country. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 19 

PUBLIC OPINION 

Charles T. Page, President Page Belting Company, Concord, N. H. 

The plan of the organization to be known as the "Tree Planters 
of America" has my hearty approval. This organization will be an 
effective instrument for the promotion of the cause of reforestation. 

John D. Hibbard, President North American Securities Company, 

Chicago. 

Concerning the "Tree Planters of America," I believe the idea 

an extremely valuable one. If ways and means can be found to 

interest the "boys," and the plan can be made effective, nothing but 

good can result, the measure of which no one at this time can state. 

E. O. Painter, Jacksonville, Florida. 
I am heartily in interest with an Association of Farmers or 
Boys that will help renew the forests of our country. We need it 
in this State, especially as large areas of land are being cleared of 
timber by the saw-mills. Only a small portion of this land is taken 
up for cultivation. Of course, a small growth of pine and oak 
followed, but it will be a long time before such growth will be 
available for use. 

John M. Nelson, Hambleton & Company, Baltimore, Md. 

I am much interested in your wise and practical plan for inter- 
esting the boys of the United States in planting and caring for trees. 
An organization, such as is proposed by The National Business 
League of America, to reforest the country, must appeal to everyone 
who has given any thought to the vital importance of this subject. 

Honorable James O. Davidson, Governor of Wisconsin. 

Madison, November 14, 1910. 

I am in receipt of your pamphlet suggestive of a plan to reforest 
the country through an organization of farmer boys and youth, to 
be known as the "Tree Planters of America." 

I approve most heartily of the plan you have worked out. The 
fact that you propose to interest the children is the strongest evi- 
dence that the project has breadth and proposes to meet the neces- 
sities of the situation. 

Wisconsin feels keenly the need of doing a work such as you 
propose. We have not yet outlined a comprehensive plan for it, but 
are endeavoring to do something through the agency of the State. 
I have no doubt that Mr. McGovern, who will become Governor 
of the State the first of January, will give every assistance that he 
will be able to in his official capacity. 

Personally, in whatever position the future may place me, T 
shall be glad to give such help as I can to the movement. 



20 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

John S. McLain, Editor-in-Chief Dispatch and Pioneer Press, 
St. Paul, Minn. 
The proposition to interest the boys of the country, particu- 
larly of the rural districts, in tree planting appeals to me as not only 
an excellent idea but a very practical one. In this State we have 
made considerable progress in the way of agricultural education, 
and have developed an interest in the rural communities in every- 
thing which makes for the betterment of country life. I think your 
plan would meet with a very hearty reception in this State. 

Maurice H. Newmark, M. A. Newmark & Company, Los Angeles, 

Cal. 
Relative to "The Tree planters of America," the remedy that 
you suggest, to reforest, through the instrumentality of the farmer 
boys of America, must meet with the hearty approval of the people 
of this broad commonwealth. Reforestation is one of the prime 
necessities of the present day, and, when, at the same time, you 
educate the farmer youth of the country, you are compounding a 
beneficent act — "killing two birds with one stone" — and doing a 
tremendous amount of good for the future. 

Honorable William J. Bryan, Editor and Proprietor "The Com- 
moner," Lincoln, Neb. 
I am pleased with the plan you outline for "The Tree Planters 
of America." It will do the boys good to enlist in so worthy a 
cause, and the country will profit by the enthusiasm aroused in 
forestry. 

I. J. Truman, President Truman Investment Company, San 

Francisco. 

The idea is an excellent one and should be encouraged, as our 
wood supply should be kept up in some way, and the suggestion 
in your pamphlet would accomplish much. 

On every farm there are corners and waste places which could 
be supplied with trees to the great benefit of the planters and also 
to the parties who may come after them. In this State there are 
vast acres of land which could be planted to trees which would 
supply fuel for a large portion of the population. 

W. C. Patterson, Vice-President First National Bank of Los 
Angeles, Los Angeles, Cal. 
The scheme for reforestation of the country through the 
organization of the farmer boys and youth of America is certainly 
novel and attractive, and is one in which I believe the boys would 
enter with zest and enthusiasm. I know of no more important 
problems than those of conserving the forests which now exist, and 
reclaiming the districts which have been denuded. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 21 



PUBLIC OPINION 

A. G. Sherry, F. W. Edgerton Company, Troy, N. Y. 

I am in full accord with the plans for the ''Tree Planters of 
America." Get the rising generation started right, and "When they 
are old they will not depart from it." 

For years I have wondered why hundreds of the steep hillsides 
in this part of the country were not, long ago, planted with trees. 
They are so steep the grass dries quickly, and they are of very small 
value for pasturage and are good for nothing else. 

You have struck the right idea, and I hope you will have great 
success. Along with this teach the young ideas to respect trees and 
grass planted in cities and towns. They are very prone to destroy 
these. 

Frederick S. Fish, First Vice-President and Chairman Executive 
Committee, The Studebaker Corporation, South Bend, Ind. 
Relative to the suggestion of a plan to reforest the country, 
through an organization of farmer boys and youth, to be known 
as the "Tree Planters of America." it seems to me if it can be organ- 
ized along the lines as suggested, it is not only practicable, but it 
will be a rational and successful way of solving the problem. 

Arthur Young, Arthur Young & Company, Chicago. 

I have been much interested in reading the pamphlet suggesting 
a plan to reforest the country through an organization of farmer 
boys, to be known as "The Tree Planters of America." 

Such a plan cannot fail to meet the hearty approval of every- 
one that has at all considered the subject. It will be a good thing 
for the farmer boys. If it is under the efficient direction that is 
proposed, it should be a great thing for the conservation of the 
country's resources. 

John Marsellus, President John Marsellus Manufacturing Com- 
pany, Syracuse, N. Y. 
In our opinion the people of the United States, after unaccount- 
able and lamentable neglect, are at the present time thoroughly 
united in demanding the protection of public interests, chief among 
which is the conservation of our forests. Carelessness and indif- 
ference are to be succeeded by practical as well as permanent efforts 
towards the rehabilitation of our timber supply. We heartily ccyn- 
mend the organization, now suggested and being pushed by the 
National Business League of America, to be known as "The Tree 
Planters of America." It is our cherished hope that the youth of 
this country are to be inspired to thus provide lasting results against 
a lumber famine, as well as securing prevention against that prodigal 
destruction of national wealth which has characterized our history 
during recent years. 



22 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President University of California, 

Berkeley, Cal. 
I think your plan for the organization of the "Tree Planters 
of America" is a good one. Anything that can be done to interest 
our young people in trees and the planting thereof cannot be amiss. 

Thomas P. Egan, President J. A. Fay & Egan Company, Cincinnati, 

Ohio. 

We think your idea is great if any plan can be devised to 
reforest the country through an organization of the farmer boys. It 
would be the greatest benefit to this country that could be promul- 
gated. We are in a position to know that the waste of the forests 
is actually 50 per cent. In other words, there is not 50 per cent 
of the actual lumber gotten out of the trees. In 90 per cent of the 
cases where saw-mill people cut over the ground they cut down 
both small and large and simply leave the small stuff to rot. 

If, in addition to the reforestation of the country, you could 
devise some method of supervising the cutting of the timber it would 
be the greatest boon to this country. In other words, when they cut 
the large timber out of a large tract of land, to have a supervisor 
to save the small timber, and make them leave standing the stuff 
that they know cannot be used in the saw-mills. We offer this as 
a suggestion and hope you can make use of it, and we know it 
would be a great step in keeping the country forested as it should be. 

George W. McKerrow, Superintendent Department of Farmers' 
Institutes, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 
Concerning "The Tree Planters of America," the work your 
organization has undertaken and outlined is a good one. You will 
find the Wisconsin Farmers' Institutes always ready to co-operate 
with you in any practical lines you may have to suggest for the for- 
warding of this work. 

L. A. Ault, President The Ault & Wiborg Company, Cincinnati. 

I am heartily in sympathy with the movement, and entirely 
approve of the plan. 

E. H. Keeler, Secretary-Treasurer Rockford Lumber and Fuel 
Company, Rockford, 111. 
I have read with great interest the pamphlet, suggesting a plan 
to reforest the country through an organization of the "Tree Plant- 
ers of America," and assure you that the plan meets with my 
enthusiastic approval. The American boy is quick to grasp a good 
idea, and if his interest is aroused I am sure good results would 
be accomplished. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 23 



PUBLIC OPINION 

A. L. Martin, Director of Farmers' Institutes, Department of 
Agriculture, Harrisburg, Pa. 

"The Tree Planters of America." This work gives to me a 
new inspiration for the development of better forestry conditions 
in the United States, and I cannot but commend the National Busi- 
ness League of America. 

David S. Gray, Vice-President The Hayden-Clinton National Bank, 

Columbus, Ohio. 

Referring to the suggestion of a plan to reforest the country, 
through an organization of farmer boys and youth, to be known 
as the "Tree Planters of America," I beg to say that I have care- 
fully read the plan proposed and believe it to be not only practicable 
but highly desirable, and, if organized and put in operation on lines 
indicated, it would be effective in the accomplishment of the 
important end in view. 

Edward J. Parker, President State Savings, Loan and Trust Com- 
pany ; President Illinois Outdoor Improvement Association, 
Quincy, 111. 

"The Tree Planters of America," I am glad the National 
Busmess League of America has taken up this matter, and in a very 
practical way. The intelligent and self-sacrificing work of the 
Honorable Gifford Pinchot and others in the matter of conservation 
and reforestation, should be supplemented with the co-operation, 
not only of other citizens, but of organizations, both municipal and 
state. The effort of a single citizen, namely, the Honorable Sterling 
Morton, has made Arbor Day a very practical matter in the country 
at large. Travelers over the transcontinental lines in this country 
and Canada, are surprised at the vast natural waste from 
cyclones, avalanches, fires, etc. Careless hunters, beginning with the 
aborigines have laid waste the forests of mountains and plains. It 
is thought by some scientists that the plains between the Missouri 
River and the Rocky Mountains were at one time covered with 
forests, and that they were burned by the Indians in their hunting 
expeditions. 

In Japan, the permission of the state and municipal authorities 
must be obtained to cut timber, and, when it is cut, the forests are 
renewed by intelligent planting, as the traveler plainly observes. 
The old forest lands of China, Italy and Spain have been denuded, 
and the commerce and wealth of those countries are injuriously 
aft"ected thereby. On the other hand, Germany has carried on the 
work of reforestation for generations, and it has been said that her 
planting has been done with reference to the ultimate exportation 



24 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

to this country of varieties of timber which we have destroyed by 
careless and thoughtless waste. 

The plan of The National Business League to organize the 
"Tree Planters of America" is an excellent one. In some of our 
States, farmers' clubs and debating societies have been organized 
with reference to the conservation of the soil. 

We should impress upon the farmers' boys, particularly, that 
their assistance and co-operation is needed in preserving and replant- 
ing our forests. The question is important enough also to be taken 
up by the combined educational influences of our country. 

Henry F. Whitcomb, Milwaukee, Wis. 

The plan outlined seems to me to be wholly practicable, and 
likely to bring good results if prosecuted vigorously and persistently. 

J. C. Van Riper, President American Trust Company, St. Louis. 

Concerning the "Tree Planters of America," I am greatly 
pleased at the interest shown in the proposed organization. Any 
plan of reforesting the country, I think, must be done on private 
property, therefore the suggested organization of the "Tree Planters 
of America" appeals to me as a practicable proposition. 

When the other side of the question is considered, the growing 
of trees where waste places at present exist, and its effect on the 
coming generation, I cannot believe but that men, generally, will 
heartily and sincerely endorse your plan. 

William Spencer, President The First National Bank of Erie, 

Erie, Pa. 
Your tree-planting scheme is a most excellent one and I predict 
a great success. It will be the first attempt to let the farmer boy feel 
a real interest in the national uplift, and to realize he is a factor 
in national affairs as well. It is high time the farmer boy was 
recognized. 

Ezra J. Warner, Jr., Secretary Sprague, Warner & Company, 

Chicago. 
Concerning the plan to provide for the reforestation of this 
country by means -of an organization of farmer boys and youths, 
to be known as the "Tree Planters of America," the writer cannot 
see how anyone can well dissent from the opinion that here is an 
excellent idea, and one, which, if worked out in the right way, \yill 
go far toward solving one of the most serious problems confronting 
this and coming generations. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 25 

PUBLIC OPINION 

M. C. Rankin, Commissioner of Agriculture, Frankfort, Ky. 

The principle of your plan to reforest the country is a good 
one. It will take a long and active campaign of education to have 
it universally adopted. Cordial best wishes for success. 

E. P. Bacon, President E. P. Bacon Company, Milwaukee, Wis. 

I have perused, with much interest, the pamphlet entitled, "The 
Tree Planters of America." The project of the formation of an 
organization of American boys for the purpose of promoting the 
reforestation of the country from year to year seems to me a 
thoroughly practical one, and I believe it will prove a most important 
instrumentality of accomplishing the purpose. I have seen some 
allusions to it in the daily press previously, and it seems to me it 
will contribute more largely towards the accomplishment of the 
desired result than any other single instrumentality that has come 
within my observation. I wish to congratulate you heartily on the 
initiation of the plan, the progress of which I shall observe with 
interest, and I sincerely hope it may be carried into effective opera- 
tion throughout our entire country at an early period. 

H. M. Kinney, General Manager Winona Wagon Company, 
Winona, Minn. 

I want to congratulate you upon devising a plan for reforesta- 
tion that seems to me will do great things. If you stir up the 
ambition and pride of the farmers' boys of this country you will 
set in motion a force that in time will accomplish wonders. 

Charles S. Burton, Cashier The State Bank of Utah, Salt Lake City. 

I regard the suggestion as a most excellent one, and the proper 
solution of one of the most important problems the Nation has to 
solve. 

L. H. Kittredge, President The Peerless Motor Car Company, 

Cleveland, Ohio. 

I have carefully read the pamphlet and approve most heartily 
of this movement. 

J. G. Battelle, President The Columbus Iron and Steel Company, 

Columbus, Ohio. 

The plan for the organization of the "Tree Planters of 
America" seems to me practical, and if so, it certainly would prove 
immensely valuable for the permanent betterment of all the people. 



26 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

Honorable William M. O. Dawson, formerly Governor of West 
Virginia, Charleston, W. Va. 
It appeals to me as a good move in a very desirable object. I 
wish the League every success in the effort to conserve our forests. 

J. Ralston Cargill, General Manager Penick & Ford, Ltd., 
Columbus, Ga. 

I have read with a great deal of interest and pleasure your 
pamphlet outlining a plan of organization for the "Tree Planters of 
America." The idea is an excellent one, and it appeals to me 
strongly as affording a definite and tangible working basis for the 
reforestation of the country. Volumes have been written and much 
has been said about "Conservation," and yet today many people 
have only a hazy idea of what conservation really is. It is in 
danger of becoming an empty phrase, as vain as "sounding brass 
and tinkling cymbals." But your plan has a handle to grip to. 

I was an interested listener to the speeches of Mr. Pinchot 
and others recently at a banquet at The Piedmont Driving Club 
in Atlanta. The Southern Conservation Congress was in session. 
and I attended as the representative of The Columbus Board of 
Trade. The talks were all entertaining and instructive, but there 
was the lack of a definite working plan whereby tangible results 
might be gained. 

On my recent trip through South Georgia and Florida I was 
struck by the enormous waste of forest land denuded of its yellow- 
pine growth. The turpentine and saw-mill interests have cut a wide 
swath through that section, and down there now they have the 
problem of reforestation, or digging up the stumps to prepare the 
land for agriculture or of allowing the land to remain idle — a dead 
investment — with soil erosion going on and depriving the land of its 
virgin fertility. 

I was with Mr. Hardaway, of Hardaway, Fla., for a brief stay 
on his Columbus and Rosemeads sugar-cane and tobacco plantation, 
and he told me that he intended to plant three hundred acres of his 
land, of the kind just described, in pecan trees. This is being quite 
generally done by the more progressive planters and land owners 
in that section, and there is no doubt they will reap a rich harvest 
in the next decade as a result of their foresight. I think I would 
be safe in estimating that ten thousand acres of old pine tree land 
in South Georgia alone had been planted in pecans in the last few 
years. 

I not only think your plan is practical, but, as a member from 
Georgia of your National Advisory Committee, I want to suggest 
that you form your first organization of a state group in this State. 
I am persuaded that the Governor, Commissioner of Agriculture 
and other officials would heartily co-operate, and I think, too. that 
you could rely on the assistance of the various Boards of Trade. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 27 



PUBLIC OPINION 

Alexander H. Revell, President Alexander H. Revell & Company, 

Chicago. 

The more attention we pay now to preserving the forests of 
the Nation and to the planting of trees, the less attention we shall 
have to pay to other successes which we are anticipating in the 
coming fifty to a hundred years. Not that these other anticipated 
values in upbuilding shall be neglected. Perish the thought. 

We should care for the forests and plant the trees, not only 
for the money value, but also for the valuable sentimental side. 
Each of these values can easily be estimated at hundreds, perhaps 
thousands of millions of dollars, as the years go by. 

Wesley Webb, Corresponding Secretary The State Board of 
Agriculture, Dover, Del. 
I most heartily and cordially approve the plan to reforest the 
country through an organization of farmer boys and youth, to be 
known as the "Tree Planters of America." 

Honorable George C. Pardee, formerly Governor of California. 

Oakland, Cal. 
If the farmers' boys and youths can be interested in the matter 
of reforestation, the thing is done. It is, I am sure, a good way to 
get at the matter, which is of so much importance, not only to the 
farmers, but also to every other American citizen. I sincerely hope 
your plan will be effective. 

Arthur H. Devers, Closset & Devers, Portland, Oregon. 
The plan suggested is an excellent one, and with careful work 
on the part of the League, should be productive of wonderfully 
good results. 

George R. Brown, Secretary Board of Trade, Little Rock, Ark. 
There is ample work to do in this State in tree planting. Trees 
should be planted along the country roads ; old fields should be 
protected by forests ; the mountain section of the State should be 
prevented from washing; gullies can be prevented, streets improved, 
etc. Our river bottoms could be made prolific with the cultivation 
of pecans, while a great industry in basket-making could be built up 
by securing willows. 

William P. Ketcham, Seattle, Wash. 
I have been in perfect accord with the progress and work in this 
very important channel of reforestation, and I find that it is hailed 
among practical people with whom I have talked since I reached the 
coast, as the most business-like and simple project of reforestation 
that has been oft'ered up to this time. 



28 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

J. A. Jeffrey, President The Jeffrey Manufacturing Company, 
Columbus, Ohio. 

I cordially endorse the suggestion of the "Tree Planters of 
America." Such a movement would be worth a great deal to the 
Nation in forest preservation and reforesting our country. The 
great benefits which our boys and the coming men would receive 
through such training and education would more than pay any 
expense and eft'orts that may be put forth. I most heartily com- 
mend the movement. 

H. R. Groff, Manager Childs-Groff Shoe Company, Cleveland, O. 

The "Tree Planters of America," well organized by men who 
know and love boys and trees, cannot help but make its impress on 
the next generation for the good of all the country and its people. 
The idea is a fine one. 

N. E. Shaw, Department of Agriculture, Columbus, O. 

The plan suggested seems to me to be a good one. The hope 
of accomplishing anything along this line depends upon interesting 
the rising generation in this work. Although nearly all thinking 
men realize the importance of tree planting and forest preservation, 
it is difficult to induce them to undertake practical work, because 
they do not expect to see definite results accomplished. It seems, 
therefore, that your plan of interesting the boys of America in this 
movement is a step in the right direction. 

Dr. Francis P. Venable, President University of North Carolina, 
Chapel Hill, N. C. 
I feel great interest in the "Tree Planters of America." I 
realize how much it means to the people of the United States and 
shall be glad to do anything in my power to aid in the movement. 

Honorable George W. Dixon, Vice-President Arthur Dixon 
Transfer Company, Chicago. 

It must be evident to every man familiar with the vast inroads 
on the forests of the United States that only a persistent and wide- 
spread movement can restore that which, often with wasteful meth- 
ods, is being rapidly consumed by the industries of the country. 

As a remedial proposition the suggestion of an organization 
of farmer boys and youth, as the "Tree Planters of America," 
appeals to me as clearly being the effective means of restoring our 
forests, and at the same time becoming a powerful factor in con- 
serving the rain-falls and water-powers of the Nation. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 29 



PUBLIC OPINION 

Honorable Robert S. Conklin, Commissioner of Forestry, Pennsyl- 
vania Department of Forestry, Harrisburg, Pa. 
Regarding an organization for reforesting the country, to be 
accomplished by the "Tree Planters of America," I believe if the 
plan can be carried out that it will be the means of stimulating 
interest in our tree-planting problems. This department is heartily 
in accord with any organization which will assist in doing this work. 
Should the tree planters' organization become popular, which it 
undoubtedly will under the plan you suggest, I see no reason why 
its influence should not extend throughout the Nation. 

Forbes Lindsay, New York City. 

The plan outlined in the "Tree Planters of America" excites 
my hearty sympathy. It is admirable, no less on account of its 
simplicity than for its unquestionable effectiveness. It goes directly 
to the root of the matter by providing for general reforestation 
by the creation of innumerable wood lots. If the trees of the future 
are largely in private ownership the destructive exploitation of 
timber will be minimized. 

Your project is quite practical and I believe that it will be 
successful, because the proposition is one calculated to appeal to our 
farmers' boys if attractively presented, but the outcome must depend 
largely upon the manner in which the details are designed and 
carried out. 

Honorable Edgar E. Ring, Forest Commissioner, State of Maine, 

Augusta, Me. * 

Anything that can be done to awaken an interest in the boys of 
this country as to the very great importance of the proper conserva- 
tion of our great forest wealth, would certainly do much towards 
perpetuating our forests. In my opinion, the way to do this is to 
get them interested. I think your plan is worth trying. 

George S. Brooke, President The Fidelity National Bank, 

Spokane, Wash. 
I believe the proposed plan is an excellent one and cannot fail 
to bring good results. 

Ellsworth Regenstein, State Superintendent, Department of Educa- 
tion, Frankfort, Ky. 
I have carefully examined the pamphlet suggesting the plan to 
reforest the country through an organization of farmer boys and 
youth. It appears to me that the "Tree Planters of America" should 
accomplish wonders, provided they have proper organization and 
guidance. The plan appears to be very feasible and I give it my 
hearty commendation. 



80 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

E. C. Bishop, Superintendent, Department of Public Instruction, 
State of Nebraska, Lincoln. 

Concerning the "Tree Planters of America," I am very much 
interested in the work, and shall be glad to encourage it wherever 
I can. I would like especially to have it adapted in some way so 
that our boys' and girls' clubs, through the public schools, may 
become interested. We have in this State about 32,000 young 
people organized into boys' and girls' clubs. I would like to give 
them the "Tree Planters' Idea" and help extend the work through 
the public schools. 

Colonel Robert J. Lowry, President Lowry National Bank, 
Atlanta, Ga. 

I know of no question before our thinking people today that is 
of greater importance than the question of conservation of our 
resources, and the most important branch of that subject is the 
question of the re-establishment and maintenance of our forests. 

This being a new country, so to speak, we have been disposed 
in the past to be lavish in using resources in its rapid development. 
We have magnificent cities, but some of them exist at the expense 
of natural resources of the section surrounding them. Pursuant 
to the demand for the very best quality of everything, much good 
stock is thrown away that might serve a less aesthetic taste with 
perfect satisfaction. It has been said that every family in the 
United States wastes enough to feed another one, and the products 
of our mines and forests have not been properly conserved in the 
past. 

We should bring ourselves to a realization of the fact that 
we are not the only people who are to occupy this soil, and that it 
is the duty of every generation to conserve and preserve and propa- 
gate resources for the use and benefit of succeeding generations. 
We should teach our boys that wastefulness sooner or later brings 
want, and that all their acts should be constructive instead of 
destructive. Future generations will need our forests, and, as we 
utilize virgin resources at hand, we should replace these, where 
possible, that succeeding generations may not only have as good a 
basis of commerce as we have enjoyed, but that their supply may be 
greater to meet the demands of the increased population. 

I especially commend the efforts of the League along the line 
of reforestation of the United States. It is a burning question of 
great importance, and particularly does it concern those to come 
after us. The little pamphlet, "The Tree Planters of America," I 
have perused with a great deal of pleasure, and it is just such 
effective literature as this that will bring before "Young America" 
the necessity of the daily practice of conservation. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 31 



PUBLIC OPINION 

A. B. Farquhar, President A, B. Farquhar Company, Limited, 

York, Pa. 
The plan of interesting the youth of the country in forest culture 
and preservation is certainly an admirable one. Since trees planted 
will only be of value to the next generation, they must certainly see 
that our action is altruistic — all for their benefit. The plan unques- 
tionably appeals to me as practical, and is entitled to all possible 
encouragement and assistance. I believe it will succeed. 

Professor John H. Gray, Department of Economics and Political 
Science. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. 
I am delighted with the proposition for the "Tree Planters of 
America," and am glad to know that the League is taking this 
matter up. It seems to me that this is one more strong element 
back of the movement for conservation, as w-ell as for education. 
The two seem to me vitally connected. 

La Verne W. Noyes, President Aermotor Company, Chicago. 
It seems a very practical way of accomplishing the purposes of 
beautifying and benefiting our country and utilizing its waste 
places. I hope the plan will succeed and will do anything I can, 
personally, to forward the movement. 

Herman A. Hertel, Pasadena, Cal. 
I am lieartily in favor of forming an organization to be known 
as the "Tree Planters of America." The benefit to future genera- 
tions, if the idea is carried out, can hardly be overestimated. 

James W. Nye, Manager Chicago Laboratory, Chicago. 

From rather frequent visits to the semi-arid portions of the 
United States, and also to the semi-arid portions of Mexico, I can 
appreciate the absolute necessity for reforestation in many localities. 

It appears to me that the "Tree Planters of America" aftord 
a very possible solution of the necessities of sections with either a 
scant or an irregular rainfall. If the active support of the boys in 
the United States is secured they can do the necessary work, thus 
adding many millions to the value of the lands now practically 
useless. 

R. H. Downman, President Bowie, Des Allemands, and other 
Lumber Companies, New Orleans. 
Relative to the proposed organization of an association to be 
known as the "Tree Planters of America." I have read the pros- 
pectus of this work with a great deal of gratification, as I feel that 
it is, unquestionably, a step in the right direction, and every one 
who is at least interested in the future of America should lend 
every possible aid to the development of this good work. 



32 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

R. A. Long, President The Long-Bell Lumber Company, Kansas 

City, Mo. 

The plan appeals to me as most practical, and I believe if put 
into effect will create an interest on the part of the boys of our 
land in the subject that otherwise they would not give consideration, 
and, besides, I believe such a movement will inspire patriotism, and 
hence I shall be \ery glad indeed to see it made effective. 



Luther Burbank, Santa Rosa, Cal. 

I am heartily in sympathy in having the children learn the value 
of trees, how to grow them, their names, habits and qualities, and 
I think the plan which you have laid out is of great importance ; 
more to the children than can be estimated just now. On the care 
of the trees depends their prosperity in the future, so not only for 
their own benefit in preserving and increasing the forests and wood 
and timber supply, but the discipline which they will receive in com- 
pensation for their interest, will a thousand times repay them. 



Edwin Chamberlain, Vice-President The San Antonio Loan and 
Trust Company, San Antonio, Texas. 

The tree-planting movement promises to be of incalculable bene- 
fit to the country, for various reasons. 

It is along the line of reforestation so extensively carried out 
in Europe and Asia, under the British regime, with the added advan- 
tage here, that instead of a service of paid forest rangers and 
foresters, this would enlist the membership and activities of practi- 
cally the whole rural population — and it need not be limited neces- 
sarily to the rural. 

From the conservation standpoint, the idea is a very grandly 
useful one. But, even deeper and farther than the line of economic 
industrial value, through the asset of the trees themselves, goes the 
benefit to be derived from the effect of this training on the characters 
of the young, our future citizens ; give a boy something to do that 
he can accomplish "all by himself;" inspire him with the spirit of 
creating, instead of that of destruction ; endow him with a sense of 
responsibility ; make him feel that he is doing a thing which will 
benefit, not merely himself and his associates, but all future hu- 
manity; give him to understand that he is doing his part — "pushing 
his pound" — towards the welfare of his country, and you have laid 
the foundations for a pretty good and useful citizenship. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 33 



PUBLIC OPINION 

R. W. Douglas, Secretary Washington Conservation Association ; 
Washington State Commission on Forest Legislation, Seattle, 

The plan as outlined for the "Tree Planters of America" is an 
excellent one, and when carried out — as it can be with a very mod- 
erate expenditure of time and money — will yield results vastly 
benefiting the Nation, from an aesthetic as well as a practical 
standpoint. 

Frederic W. Upham, Upham & Agler; President City Fuel Com- 
pany, Chicago. 

The suggestion of an organization of farmer boys and youth, 
to be known as the "Tree Planters of America," appeals to me as a 
thoroughly practical plan for the restoration and conservation of 
the forests of the United States. Every farmer should make his 
woodland a profitable part of his farm. Millions of trees, large and 
small, are rotting on the farms all over this country today. The 
ravages of parasites also destroy much valuable timber. Here is a 
field of patriotic effort and usefulness for the boys of America. The 
movement has my cordial approval. 

Honorable Marion E. Hay, Governor of Washington, Olympia, 

Wash. 

Concerning the pamphlet issued by The National Business 
League of America, which sets forth the purpose of that association 
to ihterest the boys and young men of this country in an organization 
to be known as the "Tree Planters of America," the idea seems 
feasible, and if such an organization is perfected, it will prove a 
long step forward in practical conservation. The plan should appeal 
forcibly to every patriotic American, and I stand ready to lend what 
aid I can to the movement in this State. 



Charles B. Boothe, President, The National L-rigation Association, 

Los Angeles, Cal. 

The Tree Planters' Association will exert a tremendous force 
for good in the communities throughout the United States where 
the organization may be established. 

Not only that the planting of trees is a desirable and useful 
thing, but it will develop in every boy connected with the organ- 
ization a greater patriotism and through the Association, all boys 
working together for a common end, a greater sense of universal 
brotherhood. 



34 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

Honorable Raymond A. Pearson, Commissioner, Department of 
Agriculture, State of New York, Albany. 

I believe all citizens should be interested in the reforestation 
of the United States, and of course, particularly so relative to the 
important subject in the State of New York. The idea of interest- 
ing boys of this generation in such subjects appeals to me. We 
must depend upon the education of the young along the lines of 
improved agriculture and tree planting to restore to the next 
generation better conditions than existed during our time. 



Charles E. Thorne, Director, Ohio Agricultural Experiment Sta- 
tion, Wooster, Ohio. 

The plan proposed seems to me to possess much merit. It will 
certainly be well worth trying through the rural schools of the 
country. 



Honorable Champ Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives, 

Washington, D. C. 

I think it is an admirable idea to have an organization or asso- 
ciation of farmer boys known as the Tree Planters of America. 



Edwin A. Start, Secretary, The American Forestry Association, 
Washington, D. C. 

I can assure you of the cordial interest of the American For- 
estry Association in your splendid project and its willingness to do 
anything it can to promote its success. 



Edmund S. Hoch, Secretary-Manager, The Automatic Recording 
Safe Company, Chicago. 

Again, the National Business League is earning the congratu- 
lations of the American public and placing the country under fur- 
ther obligations to its good service. 

Of the great national movements that the League has inaugu- 
rated, not excluding the organization of our National Department 
of Commerce and Labor, "The Tree Planters of America" will 
appeal to many as the most important. 

The character of the organization of this proposed great na- 
tional body and its plan of procedure give it special interest and 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 35 



PUBLIC OPINION 

will undoubtedly insure its prompt and sound success. The farmer 
boy and the tree are natural companions and a movement to con- 
nect the two in a great systematic national reforestation program 
proceeds from a natural base. 

The increasing value and scarcity of trees will help in im- 
pressing the mind of the present and future farmer boy with the 
need for their preservation and restoration, at which practical first 
result the movement is aimed. 

I cannot see how this plan will meet with anything except sup- 
port at the hands of all — government representatives, officials, pub- 
lic bodies and individuals, everywhere. Some such organized gen- 
eral movement is due and is wanted to unify the scattered and 
rather sporadic efforts toward reforestation which have for some 
time been put forth in various parts of the country — so far with 
local or indifferent success. 

If I were asked to suggest an auxiliary feature to the League's 
plan. I would recommend that the "Tree Planters" include the boys 
of towns and smaller cities, who might be interested in a special 
movement looking to the planting of desirable and adaptable foliage 
trees, along the streets of their villages and cities, for shade and 
ornament. 

Our wealth in foliage trees has never been properly appre- 
ciated or developed. Our forests, in every zone, abound in a great 
variety of splendid foliage trees, many of them of the blooming 
variety, such as the chestnut, catalpa. linden, locust, magnolia, etc., 
which cultivation would greatly improve. 

Our towns do not at all adequately avail of the opportunities 
which profusely surround them and which, if half improved, would 
make almost any otherwise ugly faced village a charming place of 
abode. For the beauty, freshness and purity of trees influence 
humans about them — they spread refinement, which is shortly writ- 
ten all over the lineaments of the town or the street they inhabit. 

The fame of Paris as a city of beauty is traceable in no 
small degree to the glory of its blooming chestnuts, pink and 
white, in the spring. A drive over the Champs Elysees to the 
Bois, in May, is near to a glimpse of Paradise, made so by the 
splendid trees wdiich line it and the color and fragrance of their 
luxuriant blossoms. 

In our larger cities the baseball parks afford a splendid oppor- 
tunity for tree planting. The average city baseball park is a deso- 
late place, its physical aspect coarse and ugly — in many cases 
almost brutalizing. Trees would radically change this, and would 
make the sport finer and the enjoyment for all fuller and higher. 

Who does not recall, with the recollection of great games upon 



36 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

the college or university campus, the inspiration associated with 
its background of deep green trees, glinting in the sun and bending 
in the breeze? What splendid impulses rise from such surround- 
ings. There is something in the heart which swells in response 
to the soft rustle of the leaves of a noble tree, as its branches swing 
gently in the wind — response to a message directed to the deeper 
and truer sources of being, where are generated the subtle philos- 
ophies and resolves that make men clean and strong. 

Much is said to us about guardian angels, in our youth. A 
good tree, with its rich fresh tones of green, its cooling shade and 
its atmosphere of rest and solace, is a fairly good substitute for 
a guardian angel, to the grown-up man, especially to the modern 
city man, stifled by the heat and smoke of the town and seared by 
its blight of brick and stone. 

Your reforestation movement will indeed mean much to the 
future generations of Americans. 



Frederick Weyerhaeuser, St. Paul, Minnesota. 

Concerning the "Tree Planters of America," I fully endorse 
the object of your proposition. 

While it is true that we are using up our timber resources 
rapidly, as soon as there is a sane system of taxation of timber 
lands and adequate protection from fire, private timber owners 
will begin to practice forestry, and eventually the consumption of 
lumber will be in proportion to its growth. This will accompany 
and be in proportion to the increase in the value of timber lands. 
The history of European forestry is repeating itself in America. 
Your plan is to be commended. 



Honorable John D. Works, United States Senator from Cali- 
fornia, Washington, D. C. 

The question of reforestation is a very important one in our 
state. Any active effort to create sentiment in its favor and to 
make that sentiment practically effective by doing something as 
well as talking about it, appeals to me very strongly. Your organ- 
ization, "The Tree Planters of America," should, and, I have no 
doubt, will, serve both these purposes. It will teach the youth 
of the country to appreciate the importance of protecting the for- 
ests we have and the growth of others, and make these young 
people militant workers for reforestation. You have my earnest 
sympathy in your efforts in this direction. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 37 



PUBLIC OPINION 

Honorable George P. McLean. United States Senator from Con- 
necticut, Chairman Committee on Forest Reservations 
and the Protection of Game, Washington, D. C. 

I am in hearty sympathy with the purposes of the 'Tree 
Planters." The effort to renew our forests should be sustained 
wherever possible. 



Honorable Robert L. Taylor, Member of Congress from Ten- 
nessee, Washington. D. C. 

I am much taken with the proposal to organize the boys of 
the country into "Tree Planters." It is a most fortunate thought 
for there is nothing like a boy's enthusiasm when it is aroused, 
and they will seize upon it and push it with avidity, and you will 
have the basis of reforestation established almost before you know 
it. I know something of this from some connection with boys' corn 
clubs. It is remarkable with what enthusiasm and intelligence 
they have seized upon this. 

I see but one difficulty, but there are ways to overcome that, 
A boy likes to see things happen quickly, and a tree is a long time 
coming, and so your plan must devise something that will interest 
him as quickly as possible in its results. I suppose, however, that 
note has been taken of all this. I most heartily commend it, and 
expect to see it accomplish great good. 



Robert J. Thompson, American Consul at Hanover, Germany. 

I have read with interest the proposal of the League, looking 
to the reforestation of the United States by organizing the boys 
of the country in a national body or society to be known as the 
"Tree Planters of America." 

I congratulate you on this timely movement, and especially 
upon the practical plan outlined, and which includes, as a corollary 
of the work of reforestation, the "Physical, moral and spiritual 
uplifting of the American boy" and future generations. 

The trees of any land are a good insurance of its sound pros- 
perity and of the solid character of its people. The moral influ- 
ence of their presence is positive and unquestioned, while their 
material value as the basic asset of a nation would be difficult to 
overestimate. 

They certainly represent the least expensive crop insurance a 
country may provide, as they retain in the earth the moisture of the 



38 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



PUBLIC OPINION 

down-pouring rains and of the melting snows, holding their flow 
in moderate check, to more steadily disseminate their life-giving 
strength through the soil — transforming it into the abundance of 
nature. 

Trees are the natural irrigators, as well as the fertilizers of 
our soil. Not only do they serve to store and seasonably distribute 
our annual rain and snow fall, but by the maintenance of great 
permanent moist areas, they continue and increase it. 

Note the increase of rainfall following planting of trees on 
our great prairies — even in our former deserts. Then note the re- 
curring drouths which have repeatedly withered naturally fertile 
regions, since our great forests have been denuded. Likewise, 
the devastating spring floods — precious waters wasted — and the 
far south-reaching frosts and blizzards, which almost yearly come 
upon us since the life-saving barriers of our tree-clad slopes have 
been cut away. 

Just as the human being does not begin to appreciate the vital 
value of his health until serious inroads have been made upon it, 
so a nation does not awaken to a realization of the vital need of 
its trees until they have largely disappeared. 

Fortunately, the trees can be replaced — if a proper system of 
planting be inaugurated and steadfastly prosecuted. As a funda- 
mental, far-reaching and effective move in this direction, your plan 
of reforestation through the co-operation of the American farmer 
boys is to be commended, and your efforts in this direction should 
have the active support of every intelligent citizen. 

Anyone who has lived or traveled abroad must have been 
impressed with the extensive reforestation work that is going 
on in the various countries of Europe, and especially with the 
vital importance that is attached to its progress. 

Forestation under control of the Prussian authorities and be- 
longing to the public, nets the Government over $20,000,000 annu- 
ally. Pi-ussia is only twice the size of Missouri, yet it supports 
40,000,000 people. Its forestation is principally on mountain ridges, 
swamp land and sandy marshes, which are given over to the culti- 
vation of pine, beech and oak. This revenue would pay for two 
magnificent Dreadnoughts a year, and in addition support Ger- 
many's diplomatic and consular service. Such possibilities, if 
Germany's forestation scheme were applied to America, would 
justify the organization of the "Tree Planters of America" a thou- 
sand times over. 

But, further: In the province of Hanover, a part of Prussia, 
there are 7,000 miles of country roads bordered with fruit trees — 
apples, pears, cherries and plums — over 450,000 planted and culti- 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 39 



PUBLIC OPINION 

vated by the state, and not classed as forestation, but belonging to 
the road department. These trees yield in revenue, by actual sales 
of the fruit, twenty cents per tree, or nearly $100,000 a year, which 
is applied to the maintenance of the roads. 

To one sharing knowledge of these beauties and economic ad- 
vantages to a people, the "Tree Planters of America" naturally ap- 
peals in the strongest sense. The National Business League of 
America has gone to the very fountain head of public sentiment, 
and no one who loves his country and is interested in its future 
can but wish the League the greatest success. 

The forests of a land are indeed almost, if not actually, the 
father of its waters, which places them in first relationship to 
its hfe. 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 



THE CHICAGO RECORD-HERALD 



There is a plan on foot to bring the boys and young men of the 
country districts into a comprehensive organization of "tree plant- 
ers," whose energies shall go to replacing in some measure the for- 
ests that fire and the ax are laying low. The working out of the 
idea ought to be good for the boys and good for the country. 



THE TROY (N. Y.) RECORD 

The plan is to enroll the lads in the rural regions in an army 
whose desire will be to plant the waste places with proper trees; 
line ravines with timber; put out ornamental shrubs on the lawns, 
and replace timber which is cut with young growth. Li this way it 
is believed a custom will be started, which will become a fixed part 
of the farmer's life and which will save the land from denudation. 

This is a splendid idea and deserves success. It should spread 
beyond the farm to the suburbs of cities and even to the cities them- 
selves. A sapling is easily planted and in a few years becomes a 
sturdy tree, valuable, ornamental and useful. If such a national 
association be organized, it w'ill have accomplished as much for the 
future generations as any of the agencies now engaged in conserv- 
ing the natural resources of the country. 



40 THE TFiEE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 

LEAVENWORTH (KANSAS) TIMES 

It was the Laird of Dumbiedykes who, when he came into what 
was practicahy a treeless estate, determined to accompHsh its refor- 
estation. He suppHed himself with desirable seedlings, and, as he 
went about his lands, he was "aye stickin-in," as a matter of habit, 
and it is recorded that they flourished exceedingly, and he handed 
down to his descendants a valuable wooded estate. 

If the farmer boys of this country can, through intelligently 
directed organization, be induced to acquire the habit of "aye stick- 
in-in" a valuable seedling tree at the right place and time, more 
would be done in the way of timber restoration in half a century 
than has been accomplished by scientific reforesting efforts in a like 
period. 

THE REPUBLICAN. SALT LAKE CITY. UTAH 

The plan is entirely practical and possesses great merit, for 
reared in the practice of tree planting, conservation of the timber 
supply, and schooled in the science of forestry, the habit will be- 
come fixed for life, and the custom of tree planting will have been 
extended to all parts of the United States, and all the farmers will 
be practical foresters. 

For some years the public schools in the cities have been observ- 
ing Arbor Day, and an effort has been made to interest the children 
of all ages in the planting of trees. But the opportunities for tree 
planting in the cities are limited. With the country boys organ- 
ized a much greater amount of good can be accomplished. 

ARGUS-LEADER. SIOUX FALLS, S. D. 

"Reforestation by the farmer boys of America" would be the 
battle cry, and while the work was in progress, the country would 
be educating the coming generation in the importance of tree cul- 
ture, the best trees to be grown, and the best ways to grow them, 
as well as how to fight the parasites which attack the growing trees. 

COLUMBUS (OHIO) DISPATCH 

Perhaps it has come as a fulfillment of the dream of the late 
Professor William James of a project that would claim and employ 
the militant spirit in something better than war. 

THE NEWS. SALT LAKE CITY. UTAH 

There is no doubt that it is a good idea to take up the work of 
forestation in a systematic manner. Vegetation means so much to 
a country. Animal life could not exist without vegetation. It is the 
beginning and foundation of higher forms of life. 

In the canyons of Utah and in other suitable places trees ought 
to be planted, and if an organization with state, or government, 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 41 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 

aid could see to it, it would be done. More vegetation would mean 
more rain and better crops. Tree planting would give the boys the 
best and most useful occupation. It would draw them nearer to 
nature, and the beauties of nature. By all means let there be a 
tree planters' association. 

PLAIN DEALER, CLEVELAND. OHIO 

The rural youth of the United States would be bound together 
for the promotion of an interest upon whose success much of the 
nation's future prosperity depends. 

This looks like a splendid extension of the Arbor Day idea. 
Boys enjoy organization and would, it is believed, take hold of such 
a movement as this with avidity. Tree culture would become a 
pleasure and timber of untold value might owe its existence to the 
inspiration that comes of fellowship in a good cause. 

NEWS-TRIBUNE. DETROIT. MICH. 

It is a movement to be commended, in that it conserves two 
natural resources — the BOY and the TREES. When boys and 
trees are good comrades, nothing is to be feared for either of them. 

THE GAZETTE, TRENTON, N.J. 

The idea is one that has its appeal not only to the farmer boys, 
but to the entire communities that have been denuded of their for- 
est growth by fire, by the hand of the spoiler, or by the myriad legiti- 
mate uses to which timber is constantly put. 

PITTSBURG (PA.) POST 

This suggestion carried to a conclusion would probably do more 
to solve the problem of trees in this country than any other move- 
ment. It is a broad, practical and promising recommendation. 

The land owners of the future would not only be educated in 
the value of trees and in how to promote their growth, but would 
witness trees of their own planting maturing as the boys developed 
into the responsibilities of citizenship. 

THE NEWS. BUFFALO. N. Y. 

Tree Planters Cheered 

The National Business League has issued a pamphlet in behalf 
of the "Tree Planters of America," to be organized for the purpose 
cf reforesting where that is needed and to encourage the intelligent 
growth of opinion and of action on that subject. No doubt there is 
a profound wisdom in the injunction that boys should be taught 



42 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 

that which they shall practice when they become men; so should 
girls be taught that which they should practice when they become 
women. It is a good sign of the times that many employ their 
leisure, their command of their own time, in educational work that 
is inspiring and useful in about the same degree. 

Many think that the salvation of the country depends on the 
expansion of the boy scout idea, which is no doubt, well enough in 
its way, though the tendency of our country has always been away 
from militarism for daily use, but all will agree, without exception, 
that training children to appreciate the value and the vital need of 
a proper proportion of forests to other lands, is a work in which 
there is all good and no evil in itself. 

It is, however, particularly desirable that boys should be taught 
to have regard for trees and to be active in their preservation until 
large enough to grow. The reason is that boys are more apt than 
girls to be careless in such things when they become men in charge 
of public affairs. The carelessness of youth is apt to be continued 
with consequences that are damaging beyond calculation to the 
commonwealth. 

Every such good work as that of tree planting should have 
every reasonable encouragement on the part of citizens. Much 
more can be done by an energetic and enlightened public opinion 
acting upon citizens than by mere appeal to the Government to 
resort to taxation, and through that highly expensive method to 
reach an end greatly desired. 



THE COURIER-JOURNAL. LOUISVILLE. KENTUCKY 

The National Business League of America, with headquarters 
in Chicago, is trying to interest the farmer boys of the United States 
in the reforestation of the country. To that end, it is proposed to 
form an organization to be known as the "Tree Planters of 
America." It is designed to push the movement largely through 
the co-operation of farmers' institutes, unions, societies and State 
and local associations. 

Once the organization is effected with State, county and town- 
ship groups, it would be expected to bring about systematic tree 
planting in "profitless pastures, nooks, ravines ; on useless or worn- 
out spots or partly denuded forest acres on the farm, and in every 
place where the soil is not yielding a reasonable contribution to the 
general welfare." These forestry enterprises would be visited from 
time to time by experts from the United States forest service, and 
there would be systematic effort through these visits and by publica- 
tions, to instruct the "Tree Planters" in all the branches of scientific 
tree culture. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 43 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 

This is a good plan for inducing general interest in the subject 
of forest preservation and perpetuation. It is really an elaboration 
of the Arbor Day which is observed by the children of the public 
schools. It is a better plan, of course, for, if carried out as its 
promoters suggest, every day would be Arbor Day, and the ultimate 
results would be a future timber supply, which, by proper methods 
of conservation, might be maintained indefinitely. 

There can be no enduring forestation movement without the 
co-operation of the youth of the country. The boys of today are 
to be the future directors of the destiny of the Nation. Unless they 
and their succeeding generations can be induced to enlist in the work 
of conservation that work is certain to fail. The suggestion of The 
National Business League of America is sensible and practical. By 
all means let the League proceed with the organization of its 
Tree Planters. 

THE PRESS, GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 

If the nation is to be saved from a timber famine years hence, 
it must be by reforestation and a general effort such as this should 
prove extremely valuable. It is an extension of the Arbor Day 
idea, but differs in that it aims to teach children the proper care, 
as well as the planting, of trees. As the entire movement of con- 
servation and reforestation is for the benefit of posterity it is proper 
that those who will reap the rewards be associated with the work. 

The project, however, is broad and practical enough to enlist 
the attention of adults. In Michigan, for instance, men with small 
capital and desirous of a safe method of investment hardly could 
do better than buy waste land at the prevailing reasonable prices 
and reforest it. The outlay required is small and in twenty years 
or less they could begin to realize. The reforestation suggestion 
is particularly applicable to this State, where thousands of acres 
of denuded pine lands are to be had for small sums. 

THE DEMOCRAT. JOHNSTOWN. PA. 

The Tree Planters 

The plan is to enroll the boys in the rural regions in an army 
whose desire will be to plant the waste places with proper trees, 
line ravines with timber, put out ornamental shrubs on the lawns, 
and replace timber which is cut with young growth. In this way it 
is believed a custom will be started which will become a fixed part 
of the farmer's life and will go far towards saving the land from 
denudation. There is no reason why the idea should be confined to 
the farms, though it must find its greatest opportunities there. In 
the villages and suburbs of the cities there is plenty of room for its 



44 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 

demonstration. And, besides being a factor in the reforestation of 
the country, it ought to be a factor in the upbuilding of good men. 
When boys and trees are good comrades, httle is to be feared for 
either of them. 

THE TRANSCRIPT. BOSTON, MASS. 

Arbor Day was instituted a number of years ago with an ex- 
cellent practical purpose in view. It was suggested by the rapid 
exhaustion of our forests and the apparent indifference of the 
public to the conservation of tree life. Its observance has doubt- 
less been productive of some benefit. It may be credited to some 
extent to the more responsible feeling with respect to the preserva- 
tion or reproduction of our forests and the more individual trees 
which furnish shade and contribute to the beauty of the landscape. 
But in too many cases the tree planting which Arbor Day pro- 
clamations exhort us to promote is more honored in the breach 
than the observance, or else it is a mere ceremonial that is satisfied 
with sticking a sapling into the ground and leaving it, with no care 
except such as nature provides thereafter. 

THE SENTINEL, KNOXVILLE, TENN. 
Tree Planters of America 

There is an organization with its home office at Chicago, called 
the National Business League of America. It commends itself 
through its board of directors and other officers and committees. 
Among the vice-presidents is Col. Robert J. Lowry, of Atlanta, 
Ga. This League is trying to create sentiment in favor of tree- 
planting. One of its suggestions is the organization of the boys of 
the land as the Tree Planters of America. Arbor Day has been 
an established institution in many states for many years. It is a 
good thing except that it seems to inculcate the notion that there 
is one day for planting trees. The Tree Planters of America are to 
plant trees every day. The idea is a good one. There are only 
965,000 acres of reforested land in the whole country, and there 
are more than 56,000,000 acres of land that would surely bring a 
higher return if planted in trees than in anything else. 

THE REVIEW. ALLIANCE, OHIO. 
Planting of Forests 

Idea Gaining that Farmers should Grow Trees, the 
Same as Any Other Crop 

The matter of tree forestry is now having considerable atten- 
tion among agricultural people, the idea looking toward the re- 
foresting of a certain portion of our lands with timber for the 
future generation. 



THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 45 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 

It is now proposed to organize the farmer boys and young men 
of the country into a great national body to be known as the "Tree 
Planters of America"; these to act in conjunction and co-operation 
with the forestry department at Washington. 

It is reckoned that as a nation we are fast approaching a tim- 
ber famine, the estimate being that 300,000,000 acres of timber out 
of the original forests of 850,000,000 acres have been cut and 
marketed or destroyed by forest fires, and that the day is here 
when action is necessary for a replenishment. 

The idea is fast gaining strength that the farmer should raise 
his crop of trees as he does other products of the farm, not that 
he himself will see its advantages and reap its benefits, but that the 
crop will be one in perpetuity from father to son throughout the 
future years. 

THE BEACON, AURORA. ILL. 
Bending the Tv/ig 

"As the twig is bent, the tree is inclined." 

This truism has been blazing the way through the forests of 
civilization from time immemorial. It applies to the material as 
well as to the mental and the spiritual. Bring up a boy in the way 
he should go and when he is old he will not depart therefrom. 

Applying this principle to present day needs in the United 
States, the National Business League of America proposes the 
establishment of "The Tree Planters of America." Encourage the 
boys of the country to plant trees and thus reforest the areas 
which have been swept by commerce and by fire. That is the 
object of "The Tree Planters of America." 

The idea is a splendid one. Let it be given every encourage- 
ment. A host of Farmers' institutes are now being held in our 
own and surrounding counties. We hear the boys telling how to 
raise corn and how to test their father's milk herds. Let them 
also take interest in tree planting. The point is a vital one with 
them as it is with the business world at large. 

THE EVENING STAR. WASHINGTON, D. C. 

James Russell Lowell said once : "I think no man does any- 
thing more visibly useful to posterity than he who plants a tree." 
Many wise men have said the same thing, clothing the idea in 
different words. There is romance and utility in the judicious 
planting of trees. Too many farmers in the desire to increase their 
tillable acreage slaughter trees, so that they are without shade around 
the house, without a few trees under which stock may seek shelter 
from the summer sun and without a wood lot. In this they err. 



46 THE TREE PLANTERS OF AMERICA 

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS 

THE NEWS. DAYTON. OHIO 
Tree Planting 

There should be systematic tree planting in profitless pastures, 
nooks, ravines, on hillsides and house lawns, on useless or worn out 
spots or partly denuded forest areas on the farm, and in every 
place where the soil is not yielding a reasonable contribution to 
the general welfare. 

Not only on the farm but in the suburbs of our large towns and 
cities tree planting for use and ornamentation, should be practiced 
by every interested person. And who can claim to be not interested 
in beautifying the streets and lawns of cities with trees? 

There should be means for properly educating tree planters in 
how to go about the work, what varieties are best adapted for the 
spots to be covered, and how to cultivate, prune and care for them 
after they have once started growing. Diseases and parasites of 
trees should be explained and how they can be exterminated. 

Tree planting is a great and permanent work which ought to 
receive every encouragement. 

The Tree Planters of America is the name of a proposed 
organization, the purpose of which is to enlist the co-operation of 
the boys of the country. Every farmer's boy is said to be eligible 
to membership. 

It is a good plan. There are to be subdivisions, each state in 
the union to have a full organization, with the governor at the head 
and various advisors appointed by that official to help manage the 
organization. Every boy and girl who is interested can become a 
member, and grown persons who confess enough interest and pride 
in the future of the country to join hands with the excellent plan. 

By joining this organization farmer boys and girls will cer- 
tainly receive a great deal of scientific information about trees and 
plants. It is a good movement, which should succeed immediately. 



ADDENDA. 



From the foregoing, and a host of unpublished 
commendations from the people and the press, it 
seems certain that public opinion is practically unan- 
imous in favor of accomplishing reforestation along 
the lines indicated. 

The field for tree planting, as shown by forestry 
statistics, is so vast that only the national, state, and 
lesser governments can efficiently conduct the work. 
Under such wise direction the reforestation problem 
would be economically solved for succeeding genera- 
tions for all time. 

While the "Tree Planters of America" is every- 
body's movement, and local associations for the purpose 
may be organized anywhere, it is believed that the 
initiative to a comprehensive country-wide system 
involves a proclamation by the President of the United 
States. 



THE NATIONAL BUSINESS LEAGUE 
OF AMERICA 



OFFICERS 

George W. Sheldon, President. 
Philetus W. Gates, Vice-President. 
Granger Farwell, Treasurer. 
E. Allen Frost, General Counsel. 
Austin A. Burnham, General Secretary. 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

FREDERIC W. UPHAM. Chairman. 

Walter Fitch. Benjamin J. Rosenthal. 

Elliott Durand. Mather Smith. 

Philetus W. Gates. Samuel Insull. 

George W. Sheldon. E. Allen Frost. 

Eugene J. Buffington. Fred S. James. 

Granger Farwell. Austin A. Burnham. 

Frederick Bode. A. Volney Foster. 

Francis T. Simmons. La Verne W. Noyes. 

FINANCE COMMITTEE 

SAMUEL INSULL, Chairman. 
Granger Farwell. Rudolph Ortmann. 

George Lytton. James W. Nye. 

John W. Scott. Kenneth Barnhart. 

Milton W. Kirk. Frederick C. Austin. 

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE 

ELLIOTT DURAND, Chairman. 
William H. Bartlett. George W. Dixon. 

William O. Coleman. William C. Thorne. 

Edward J. Nally. Harry B. Clow. 

Charles A. Stevens. G. A. E. Kohler. 

COMMITTEE ON MANUFACTURES 

PHILETUS W. GATES, Chairman. 
William L. Brown. Albert B. Dick. 

Horace E. Horton. William G. Holbrook. 

Ward W. Willits. John B. Lord. 

Charles M. Hewitt. Silas J. Llewellyn. 

OFFICIAL ACCOUNTANTS FOR THE LEAGUE 

Arthur Young. Frank Stanley Young. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS 

George R. Brown, Col. Robert J. Lowry, 

Little Rock, Arkansas. Atlanta, Georgia. 

Charles B. Boothe, William H. Parlin, 

Los Angeles, California. Canton, Illinois. 

James F. Morgan, Edward J. Nally, 

Honolulu, Hawaii. New York City, N. Y. 

Frederick S. Fish, Silas H. Burnham, 

South Bend. Indiana. Lincoln, Nebraska. 

Col. Frederic E. Boothby Edwin Chamberlain, 

Portland, Maine. San Antonio, Texas. 

William B. Mershon, William P. Ketcham, 

Saginaw, Michigan. Seattle, Washington 

Franklin Murphy, Jr., Henry M. Wallis, 

Newark, New Jersey. Racine, Wisconsin. 
Arthur H. Devers, Portland, Oregon. 



CONSERVATION COMMISSION 



OF 



The National Business League of America 



CHICAGO, U. S. A. 



VICTOR FALKENAU, CHAIRMAN, CHICAGO. 



La Verne W. Noyes, 
Chicago. 

Robert W. Hunt, 
Chicago. 

Lewis L. Barth, 
Chicago. 

Frederick S. Fish, 

South Bend, Indiana. 

A. B. Farquhar, 

York, Pennsylvania. 

J. Ralston Cargill, 

Columbus, Georgia. 

George R. Brown, 

Little Rock, Arkansas. 



Mahlon D. Thatcher, 
Pueblo, Colo. 

Henry M. Wallis, 

Racine, Wisconsin. 

Franklin Murphy, Jr., 
Newark, New Jersey. 

Thomas F. Cole, 

Duluth, Minnesota. 

Edgar G. Barratt, 
New York. 

\y. E. Dennison, 

San Francisco, California. 

Charles D. Mitchell, 

Chattanooga, Tennessee. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



003 063 467 6 




